Real Life

I started reading Donald Miller's new book To Own a Dragon which is subtitled Reflections on Growing Up Without a Father. I had a father - a good one - but I still like Donald Miller's style, so it's worth the read. Anyway, I came across this quote that really captured something that I've been trying to put into some words for some time. He's reflecting on his experience of moving in with a family that he lived with for four years: "There were times I would have rather lived on my own, played my music as loud as I wanted, come home drunk, whatever. But playing your music as loud as you want and coming home drunk aren't real life. Real life, as it turns out, is diapers and lawnmowers, decks that need painting, a wife that needs to be listened to, kids that need to be taught right from wrong, a checkbook, an oil change, a sunset behind a mountain, laughter at a kitchen table, too much wine, a chipped tooth, and a screaming child."